1. I need an apron.
2. How will I get my regular sized baking sheet to fit into my apartment sized oven.
3. September 11.
Accepting my seven-year old navy Maxwell sweatpants, with holes in at least three places, as an acceptable place to wipe my flour covered hands and finding a muffin tin that fits in the oven just fine, and not being picky about the shape of my scones, I moved the trivial items aside in my mind and have spent a lot of time contemplating the date today.
Eight-years and five hours ago I was a blonde, lipsmackers wearing, ninth-grader about two weeks into living at my new home; an international boarding school. My new best friend, a fellow blonde, lipsmackers wearer, was, along with probably one third of the school's population that year, American. I had never heard of the World Trade centers, and genuinely thought that The Pentagon was something from the movies. That morning was probably no more unique for myself than most other fourteen-year-old-Canadian girls, with one exception, having just moved into an international home on Vancouver Island, there was not a moment of finger pointing, or hatred, or judgements towards anyone middle-eastern or muslim. The year proceeded, as it always will, winter break came by and there were indeed airplanes flying and airports open so most kids could get home to see their families and in Social Studies we memorized maps of all the continents and the capitals of every African, European, South-American, and Middle-Eastern country.
Over the years nine/eleven has come to mean something different for everyone, but something I hope that the american-nationalist, the blonde-canadian, the african-american, the muslim-american, the iraqi mother-of-four, the conspiracy-theorist, and the skeptic can all agree on is that it was a tragedy. I have the utmost respect and gratitude and admiration for those who were first responders on that day, and those who lost family or friends, so this is in no way an attempt to deflect the much deserved gratitude towards those heroes, however, the tragedy that occurred on this day and the way it derailed the lives of so many here in North-America is but a small insight into the fear and confusion and uncertainty that so much of the world lives in on a daily basis.
Did you know that the coffee that we drink today comes, originally, from Ethiopia. Did you know that according to equatorcoffee.ca more than half of Canada's citizens consume one to four coffee beverages a day. In 1994, in the United States, there were approximately $7.5 billion dollars in coffee sales. Did you know that according to the UN Human Development Index of 2006 Ethiopia ranked 170 out 177 poorest countries in the world. The average Ethiopian lives on less than one dollar a day.
Did you know that despite the fact that according to UNICEF 26% of children in Niger will die before they turn five years old, it is considered a 'safe' african country because of its 'fledgling democracy' and relative political stability.
Did you know that Venezuela has more murders per year than any other country in the world. According to dailymail.co.uk there were 130 murders for every 100,000 residents. South Africa is next on the list with 62 murders for the same number of residents. That is less than half as many.
I am reading a great book right now called 'The Chinese Religion and the Baha'i Faith' and in it there is a quote by Baha'u'llah which says, 'Be ye the fingers of one hand, the members of one body.' The author of this book elaborates saying,
'It is obvious that there is a great diversity of form and function in a body as reflected in its various parts- hands, legs, ears, the backbone, and so on. Although one treasures one's sensory organs such as eyes and ears much more than one's legs and hands, yet all receive the full support of the body. If one of our toes is bruised accidentally while walking, the whole body feels the pain and may be immobilized for a while because all the organs and sensory perceptions rush to the aid of the toe. Similarly, if one applied this attitude to the people in the world, we would no longer live in a world where people ignore the sufferings of others but rather rush to one another's aid whenever one part of humankind was ailing.'
I guess that all I am hoping is that while we are thankful for those who gave their lives to save lives and we remember those who lost their lives in New York on September 11, 2001, we also begin to notice some of the pain that the rest of humanity lives with on a daily basis. Whether it is just by becoming more aware yourself, saying a prayer, taking a moment to meditate, or become involved with a charity... begin to notice the rest of our human family.
